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Suicide bomb attacked aimed at Somali President (Viewer's discretion is advised)
Newly President of Somalia has survived an assassination attempt just two days after being voted in. Suicide bombers targeted a hotel where he was holding a news conference - eight people, including the attackers, were killed.
The rebel group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility.
Al Jazeera's Peter Greste reports from the capital, Mogadishu.
Credits: Aljazeera
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Somali Prime Minister - Abdi Farah Shirdon Said
Somali Prime Minister - Abdi Farah Shirdon Said
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Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud
At least six people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up amongst a group of security officials at a checkpoint outside the building housing the offices of the Somali PM and President this morning.
According to an eyewitness, "The bomber was sitting near a perimeter wall and detonated himself in the midst of a group of security forces."
Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon Said and newly elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud were not harmed by the blast.
Somalia, a former colony of Italy, has been faced by political instability, toxic clannish warfare and Islamist terrorism since 1991. Somali streets were occupied by warlords of different clans, who ran amok during those days of deadly instability. The country, in effect, did not have any meaningful economic activity during the 1990s. In the last eight years, under United Nations supervision, with international military assistance, socio-political and economic orderliness has been gradually returning to Somalia.
The Ambassador and Special Delegate of the Italian Government to the Somali Republic, Mr. Andrea Mazzella, condemned the “cowardly attack carried out today against Villa Somalia by unknown assailants.”
“This episode reinforces our belief that the Authorities of the Somali Government are working in the right direction to fight against Al-Shabaab and to re-bring the country to the path of peace and economic development.”
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, but the Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab insurgents have conducted a series of guerrilla style attacks in the capital. The insurgents have vowed to topple newly elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who took office in September after being chosen by the country's new parliament, bringing an end to eight years of transitional rule.
Al-Shabaab fighters are on the back foot, having fled a string of key towns ahead of a 17,000-strong African Union force, which is fighting alongside Somali government troops to wrest territory off the Islamists.
Ethiopian troops are also battling the Al-Shabaab in the southwest of Somalia.
However, the Al-Shabaab remain a potent threat, still controlling rural areas as well as carrying out guerrilla attacks - including suicide bombings - in areas apparently under government control.